Shameless Persistance

I first started to title this post "Boldness." Obviously I changed it because I love the words "shameless persistance" that are found in the New Living Translation of this passage:

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.
“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:5-10

Jesus had just finished teaching the disciples how they should pray and gave the guideline for prayer that must of us know as the "Lord's Prayer." I find the verses after this much more interesting. Can you imagine being this persistant in your life, not only your prayer life, but you life? Jesus tells us that this person received what he was asking for, not because it was a friend of his, but because the guy would just not give up asking for the bread! I have been learning this lately in my life. I have not had shameless persistance when it comes to pursuing the things I really want in my life. I find excuses about why it will not happen, waste my day telling myself how I do not have enough time and how tired I am. I keep saying that I will get it done tomorrow sometime. It then happens all over again the next day. Read this poem:

Lose The Day Loitering
Lose the day loitering,'twill be the same story

To-morrow, and the next more dilatory,

For indecision brings its own delays,

And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;

Begin it, and the work will be completed.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe writes about the need to be bold - to be shamelessly persistant - about following through on your dreams, your desires, the things that God has placed inside of you that have to come out. Jesus tells us that we need to be bold and persistance, not only asking in prayer, but taking action each and every minute and seize them! When we engage in the process of shameless persistance, our mind and passion for the thing we are acting upon grows more and more "heated" and we will soon find completed the task we set out to do. Keep asking. Keep knocking. Keep opening doors. Keep seeking. When you do you will find the dream completed and joy full. Continue to be persistant in your pursuit of God, or life, and of your dreams. People will not hand it to us because they know us or because they owe us a favor. It will be found and given to us because, like this man Jesus speaks of we have been shamelessly persistant! Write down some things that you have always wanted to do, just writing down the list is the beginning of the work. Stop the excuses, look for and find all the reasons to tell yourself "it is on its way."

Namaste'